11. Nelson's victory secured for Britain the undisputed sovereignty of the seas, freed her from all fear of invasion, ensured the safety of the seas to her merchantmen, and threw a strong shield over her colonial possessions. When Nelson died, his work was done, his mission ended; but yet he has not ceased to be a source of living power, "he being dead yet speaketh." Wherever danger has to be faced and duty done, at cost to self and for the sake of fatherland, there the name and deeds of Nelson still speak with an uplifting force.
12. It is interesting to know that Nelson's splendid services and his mournful death are still commemorated in the Royal Navy by certain details, in each blue-jacket's dress, with which we are all familiar. The three rows of white braid on the collar recall the three greatest of Nelson's victories—the Nile, Copenhagen, and Trafalgar; whilst the black silk handkerchief, worn by each sailor, reminds him of the sad occasion when it was first assumed in token of mourning for the fallen hero in the hour of victory.
1. Whilst Nelson was sweeping the French war-ships off the ocean, and securing for Britain the sovereignty of the seas, the Marquess Wellesley was turning every French soldier out of India, and making British rule supreme in that country. Wellesley held office as governor-general of India between 1798 and 1805, the years of Nelson's victories of the Nile and Trafalgar. The former victory relieved Wellesley of all fear of a French invasion of India, and left him free to deal with the native princes, who had now nothing to rely upon but their own resources.
2. The time had now come for England to make herself the mistress of India. During the last hundred years the Mogul Empire had gone more and more to pieces, and now the old emperor was a prisoner in the hands of one of the Mahratta princes. It was in the interests of good government that one power should arise strong enough to keep all the others in order, and with a sense of justice keen enough to hold the balance fairly between them. Our governor-general did not for a moment doubt that the power best qualified for giving the law to India was the British, and he resolved, if possible, to make that power supreme.
3. Wellesley's plan was to separate the states under native princes from each other by encircling them with a ring of British territory, like so many islands surrounded by the sea, and to gain possession of the sea coasts so as to exclude all foreign foes. His first aim was to destroy all French influence. His watchword, like Nelson's, was "Down with the French," who at that time, we must remember, were trying, under Napoleon, to enslave all Europe. Many of the Indian princes had French soldiers in their pay, by whom their armies were trained. The Marquess began his great task by persuading our ally, the Nizam of the Deccan, to dismiss his French officers, and these he packed off home by the next ship. The sepoys whom they had drilled were disbanded, and then induced to take service under British officers.
4. The Nizam thus became a dependent ally. He was still master in his own domains, and over his own people, but he could no longer make war or form alliances, on his own account, with other princes. He had, in fact, bartered his independence for protection. In any attack from another state he was assured of being defended, if need be, by the whole force of British India. This system of protected states made great progress whilst Wellesley held office.
5. The princes who put themselves under British protection were expected to receive one of our officials at his court, and to be guided by his advice. They were also required to admit British troops as a part of their standing army. And when they complained of the cost of their maintenance, the Marquess offered to accept a slice of their territory and to pay the troops out of its revenues. This may seem sharp practice, but it worked well in the interests of the Hindoos who came under our rule. The ceded districts soon became the home of an industrious population, who looked to British officials for justice, and looked not in vain.
6. Before Wellesley had been five years in office the whole of Southern India, the whole plain of the Ganges, and a strip along the whole of the eastern coast were under the direct rule of the British or their dependent allies. The Mahratta princes alone were capable of doing much mischief, and the time had now come to put an end, if possible, to the bloodshed and ruin that followed the track of their horsemen. With two of the Mahratta princes the Marquess came to terms without fighting; with the remaining three he went to war. Having organized two armies, he placed one under the command of General Lake to invade the northern part of the Mahratta dominions, and the other under the command of his brother, Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, to wage war in the southern part of their territory.